Читать книгу The Lieutenant-Governors of Upper Canada and Ontario 1792-1899 онлайн

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For the Province of Upper Canada a governor had now to be appointed, and for this office no better man was available than the distinguished officer, Colonel John Graves Simcoe. Simcoe had served with distinction in the Revolutionary War, and when the new Republic of the United States was established had assisted many loyal emigrants who, persecuted on account of their adherence to Britain's cause, and with estates forfeited for having carried arms on her behalf, sought in the Canadian wilderness a refuge from the republican tempest blowing so fiercely to the south.

Simcoe was a member of the Parliament which passed the Imperial Act, and had acquired his knowledge of parliamentary procedure and of statecraft under the tutelage of those two great statesmen, William Pitt and Charles James Fox. He had indeed taken some part in the debate in the House of Commons which resulted in the enactment of the Canada Bill. He had further qualifications for the post to which he was appointed. As commander of the Queen's Rangers throughout the Revolutionary War he had shown his aptitude for command, a penetration which had been most serviceable to the British cause in many emergencies, a loving care for those who served under him, and administrative capacity that could not but command the respect of his superiors. Beyond and above all this he had endeared himself to all those who took part with him in the conflict which resulted in the independence of the United States. Some idea of his popularity and acceptability to Canadians in his new office of governor may be gathered from the manner in which he was received at Johnstown on his first setting foot in the Province, in 1792, to take upon himself the responsibility of governing Upper Canada. There he was received by the inhabitants with a salvo of artillery, the ordnance for the occasion being an ancient cannon obtained from the old French fort on the island below Johnstown. Soon after the Governor left on his journey up the river, the gentry of the surrounding country, in their queer old broad-skirted military coats, their low tasselled boots, their looped chapeaux, with faded feathers fluttering in the wind, collected together, retired to St. John's Hall, and there did honor to the occasion in speech making and health drinking, as was the custom of the time. In the speech making, Colonel Tom Fraser said, "Now I am content—content, I say—and can go home to reflect on this proud day. Our Governor, the man of all others, has come at last. Mine eyes have seen it—a health to him, gentlemen—he will do the best for us."